


Pines and Needles

by OldMagpie (MagpieMorality)



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Mentioned Booker | Sebastien le Livre, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:21:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27052579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagpieMorality/pseuds/OldMagpie
Summary: Nicky owns a flower shop in Amsterdam. A very attractive man owns a tattoo parlour next door.Andy just wants to make sure her plants survive.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 32
Kudos: 279





	Pines and Needles

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Soarez](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soarez/gifts).



> My first (posted) story for The Old Guard! A fun little idea that was inspired by (and then improved on by) [FoggyDevil](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FoggyDevil/pseuds/FoggyDevil) who graced Nicky and this ficlet with the Italian it deserved. Translations are in the end notes!

“What.” Nicky stares at Andy with the flattest of expressions from across the counter. His hands itch to continue preparing the fifty table arrangements he needs to get ready for a wedding the coming weekend but he waits. She just stares back, undeterred by his response. It’s good to be wary when Andy appears out of the blue, he’s learned over the years he's known her, especially when she starts by just blinking and… smiling. With  _ teeth _ . “Andy,” he says slowly, tone thick with apprehension. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Okay look, it’s just for a few days. I need to go deal with a customer in Denmark. Can you water the plants? If I can’t trust you with that I don’t know who I can.”

“Ah...” he sighs, at least half from sheer relief that she wasn’t asking him to bury a body or something, and she grins. “Va bene. Sì, sì, of course. One day we need to have a talk about what you think is normal behaviour though.” 

She shrugs, leaning over to cup his face briefly in gratitude and plucking a slightly wilted lily from the pile in front of him to fiddle with it as his own hands return to trimming, gathering and tying the little bouquets. He glances up at her when she doesn’t make any motion to move and finds her twisted to look out the front window, distracted by something. 

“Anything good?” Nicky asks, hiding a chuckle. Andy reaches out and unerringly finds his jaw with her hand, guiding his face in the same direction as hers. There’s a flurry of movement outside now that he looks, and when he squints he sees the cause of the chaos. 

Hot Bastard is in the street, apparently coordinating (or trying badly to coordinate) a big delivery of some kind. Nicky wrinkles his nose. Why did he have to be so hot?

Andy evidently notices his reaction, or perhaps it’s the frustrated and yet moony sigh that alerts her to his predicament. She turns to him with her eyebrows raised and he feels an instant settling of dread in his stomach that also flashes over his face. He sees her figure it out. 

Her eyes glint with mischief. 

“Whatever you’re thinking, don’t think it. Stop right now Andy I swear to all that is holy-”

“I mean, he is pretty hot,” Andy says thoughtfully, ignoring him. “So what did he do to deserve that sulky face? Too macho for flowers? The backwards cap- ah, Nicky, is he straight?” 

“He’s not,” Nicky argues too quickly. Because he’s not. Hot Bastard has no less than seven pride stickers in the window of his tattoo parlour, and seeing as he’s probably the owner and one of the two, maybe three employees of the place, it’s a safe bet that whatever he is- it isn’t straight. 

Also Nicky might have already made out with the guy at the glow-in-the-dark mini-golf place by the water on a hazy night out not long after he'd moved to Amsterdam to open his shop. Andy doesn’t need to know that part. Nicky barely allows  _ himself _ to know it, after what happened. 

But she does seem to want to know something, because she’s still raising her eyes at him for an explanation. “It’s- I don’t think he’s straight. There are… stickers. Anyway, that’s not important. _I_ am very busy, and _you_ need to go get ready for Denmark.” 

She laughs at him as she agrees and leaves, stopping in the doorway with the lily still in between her fingers to shout back, “è ancora più figo di persona,” in her best Italian, cackling when he starts to spit rapid-fire curses at her, hurrying forwards to try and push her bodily out the door. “Bye Nicky, see you soon!” she finishes in English as she goes. It attracts Hot Bastard’s attention and they lock eyes through the glass, before Hot Bastard gives him a mocking smirk and takes a step towards him, and Nicky quickly retreats with a final, much softer curse, back into the safety of his shop. 

He loses himself to work then, and the next day, and nearly forgets about Andy’s request until his eyes fall on the lilies while he’s fumbling his keys into the door to lock up. “Merda,” Nicky mutters, opening up again to grab one of his small spray bottles so he can water her plants properly. Then he goes back for some plant food, in case anything needs it. Then he packs some extra soils, a bit of each to cater to any plant needs.

The third and final time he makes it out onto the pavement, is of course the same time that Hot Bastard leaves his own shop, whistling jauntily to himself. Nicky tries not to grind his teeth. 

“Oh, hey it’s you again,” Hot Bastard says with a smarmy grin when he spots the now heavily-laden Nicky a few metres away. Just like Nicky had remembered, he has a rolling voice with syllables that tease at other languages than the English he’s speaking.

“Yes, I work here,” Nicky replies primly, putting his bags down to finally get the stupid key in its stupid lock. With that done he turns to grab the bags again and straightens, right into Hot Bastard’s chin. “Ahia, ma che cazzo!” Nicky yelps. 

Hot Bastard hisses his own swears in Dutch, a strong and bitten off " _gatver_ -!" and  returns his glare balefully. “How did you not see me?”

“Why were you so close?!”

“You were staring right next to my feet!”

“Who even- why did you even need to come over and-”

“Honestly do you even have _eyes_?”

“Hey!” Nicky protests, trying not to pout, and Hot Bastard at least has the decency to look a little ashamed. 

They haven’t moved away at all, really. Nicky hasn’t noticed, too busy glaring, and Hot Bastard is mostly distracted by mournfully rubbing the sore spot on his chin. “Look, I just wanted... I know we didn't have the best start, before when-” Hot Bastard starts when the silence has hung for a moment between them. 

Before he can finish Nicky is jumping in with spirit. “When you played your trick on me, stronzo?” His voice is as acerbic as can be and Hot Bastard winces with his entire body before doing a double take. 

“Wait, what trick?” He asks. 

Unexpected, but okay. Nicky wonders if maybe Hot Bastard had been more drunk than he’d initially figured. Not enough to forget their entire first meeting, evidently, but perhaps enough to muddle the rest of the details. “Um, when you gave me a fake name, a fake number  _ and _ left me with a bar bill that wasn’t mine?”

Hot Bastard is silent for a few stunned seconds, and then explodes into wild hand gestures, tugging his hair and then nearly grabbing Nicky’s shoulders while he tries to explain.

“No!” He shouts, almost a moan of despair. “No, no that’s not what happened! Is it? No! Shit, Nicky that’s not what happened.” He seems earnest enough, finally closing the distance to gently grip Nicky’s upper arms. His hands are warm, his soft brown eyes are crinkled in worry and his mouth turns down in a little sad frown under his luscious beard. “No, I had to help my friend! He was pretty drunk so we stepped outside... But you had my number, _and_ my name, what are you talking about?”

“Oh really. Which name is yours then- Sebastien or Joe?” Nicky mutters angrily. 

Hot Bastard- whatever his name is- tilts his head and his eyes slip sideways as though seeking the answer to the puzzle in the air to Nicky’s left. Then those eyes widen and focus back on Nicky and for a second he can’t breathe. He thinks this guy is a bastard, yeah, but he’s still  _ hot _ . 

“Joe, I’m Joe! Like I told you, I swear. Sebastien is my friend, we were- I had his  _ phone _ , I had his phone, oh shit Nicky-” he laughs, beginning to look hopeful. “I had Seb’s phone, I opened it to my number but you-”

“The numbers- I was not so sober, so I called myself to know for sure and kept that number…” Nicky clarifies for him in a whisper. “Per l'amor di  _ Dio _ .” 

“Shit. And then when Seb was in the alley… I was gone too long with him wasn’t I?” Joe says sadly. Nicky looks down away from that honest expression. “I thought, at least with my number, I could find you again. But you never texted, never called, even though you paid our tab.”

Nicky starts his own journey towards hope then too and allows a small smile. “You might want to ask your friend Sebastien about that. I gave up quickly but I was… ah apologise to him for me? I was a bit angry." 

“Those were from  _ you?! _ ” Joe splutters, loud with amusement. “Poor Seb. We had to google some of the words but…” He widens his eyes and blows out a vaguely impressed breath. “Remind me never to get on your bad side. Again,” he adds with a sheepish grin. 

“Maybe a good start would be… getting the right number,” Nicky suggests. He drags it out, uncertain if this is the right moment, but Joe seems delighted and waits for Nicky to put the bags back down again before handing his phone over. When he hears the chirp of an incoming message he grins, a much better look on his handsome face than sadness or regret, Nicky decides. It’s even better when his whole body lights up with glee, barking a laugh at the message. 

> _ So Sebastien, next time you pay for the drinks? _

“It would be my honour,” Joe declares proudly. He offers Nicky a hand with his bags, promising he has nowhere to be, and Nicky figures why not and allows him to tag along as far as Andy’s place. 

She’s going to have a hell of a surprise when she gets back from Denmark, but all the gloating in the world couldn’t stop Nicky from being pleased to discover that his tattooist neighbour is not, in fact, a Hot Bastard, but is instead just Joe. 

He's still hot though. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Translations:
> 
> Va bene - Alright  
> Sì - Yes  
> È ancora più figo di persona - he's even hotter in person  
> Merda! - Shit!  
> Ahia, ma che cazzo! - Ah, for fuck's sake!  
> Gatver - short for gatverdamme/god damn it  
> Stronzo - Asshole  
> Per l'amor di Dio - For the love of God


End file.
